As the son of one of New York City\u2019s most powerful businessman, Jonathan Levin could have had a life filled with riches.<\/p>\n
How to Watch<\/p>\n
The Death Investigator with Barbara Butcher\u00a0airs Saturdays at 9\/8c. on Oxygen. Watch full episodes on the Oxygen App<\/a>.<\/p>\n Instead, the 31-year-old left the business world behind to become a teacher in the Bronx, committed to making a difference for the high school students he taught.<\/p>\n Tragically, it was a decision that cost him his life.\u00a0<\/p>\n What Happened to Jonathan Levin?<\/p>\n Jonathan\u2014the son of Gerald Levin, a powerful media executive and then-CEO of Time Warner\u2014was discovered dead inside his Upper West Side apartment on June 2, 1997, according to the Nov. 8 episode of Oxygen\u2019s The Death Investigator with Barbara Butcher.<\/p>\n Clues at the scene suggested that Jonathan had been tortured and killed by someone he trusted.\u00a0<\/p>\n There were no signs of forced entry and police found takeout containers and plates, still crusted with food, on a coffee table. Just inside the kitchen, Jonathan\u2019s body, lay face down on the floor near a chair. Duct tape around his wrists and ankles suggested he\u2019d been bound to the chair and tortured by his unknown killer.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI remember the slash cut marks to the right side of the neck and they had a pattern like a serrated knife, like a steak knife,\u201d recalled Butcher, a former medicolegal death investigator for The New York City Office\u00a0of Chief Medical Examiner. \u201cJust deep enough to hurt like hell without killing him.\u201d<\/p>\n Jonathan also suffered a gunshot wound to the back of the head, just under his earlobe, and a post-mortem stab wound to the chest.<\/p>\n Jonathan\u2019s wallet was still in the apartment, but it was missing his ATM card and any cash that may once have been inside.<\/p>\n \u201cCould this have been a robbery gone wrong? A fight among friends?\u201d Butcher asked. \u201cBut why the torture? This tells me that there was probably something much bigger at stake, something more personal, but what?\u201d<\/p>\n Jonathan Levin Found His Calling As a Teacher<\/p>\n It was a tragic end for a man who had been adored by his students and coworkers.<\/p>\n Jonathan\u2019s parents had divorced when he was 4, but he remained close to his famous father, who was considered one of the most wealthy and powerful men in the city at the time.<\/p>\n Jonathan briefly considered following in his father\u2019s footsteps and entered the business world after college, but it was never the right fit.<\/p>\n \u201cHe didn\u2019t want to live the executive life or be in the business world,\u201d NYPD Homicide Detective Darryl Hayes explained. \u201cHis calling was to become a teacher. He was a teacher at William Taft High School, which was located in the Bronx and what we found out during the course of speaking with the faculty and students was that he was a beloved teacher. Everybody had nothing but nice things to say about him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n That included girlfriend and fellow teacher Clotilde \u201cCleo\u201d Tejada, who came with a coworker to\u00a0 check on Jonathan on June 2 after he failed to show up to work that day. When they were unable to get inside, they called police, who found Jonathan\u2019s decomposing body.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was terrible,\u201d Tejada recalled. \u201cIt was something like never in my worst nightmares I would think of.\u201d<\/p>\n